Blackland Prairie Raptor Center visits Rotarians

Cleburne Rotarians enjoyed a rare up close and personal look at owls, kestrels and hawks on Thursday. The birds of prey at times, in between occasional bathroom breaks, appeared just as interested in the Rotarians who showed up to see them. 

Erich Newpert, executive director of the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center in Allen, displayed and discussed several birds, all raptors, at the Cleburne Conference Center. 

The center, located on 66 acres near Lake Lavon, operates under the two-fold mission of education and rehabilitation of injured birds with an eye toward returning them to the wild when possible.

Such, however, is not always possible, Newpert said, especially with birds that have been cared for by humans. 

“Because they imprint on humans, whoever is taking care of them,” Newpert said. “So they wouldn’t know what to do and we can’t let them go back into the wild.”

Such is the case with the first bird Newpert displayed, an American kestrel named Scarlet. 

Their talons and hooked beaks make raptors unique, Newpert said. All the birds shown Thursday are native to the North Texas area, he said. Raptors, of which about 28 species can be found throughout North Texas, eat meat. Other examples include eagles, osprey, kites and caracara.

Sweet Pea, an Eastern screech owl, exhibited the most attitude Thursday trilling at Newpert throughout the presentation in between attempts at biting his fingers. 

Contrary to popular belief, owls cannot rotate their heads 360 degrees, but they can rotate about 270 degrees, which comes in handy given that owls can’t rotate their eyes, Newpert said. The kestrel, on the other hand, has the ability to look forward and sideways simultaneously. 

Next up was a barn owl, an animal with a high ear on one side of its head and a low ear on the other.

“They have the best hearing of any animal,” Newpert said. “They can hear your heartbeat. The snowy owls up north can hear mice tunneling under a foot of snow.”

The barn owl proved more docile than the screech owl.

“But that’s just because she’s used to being around people,” Newpert said. “If she was wild and this close to people you would definitely hear from her at a painful volume.”

Newpert concluded by introducing Orion, one of the center’s red-tailed hawks. 

The difference between falcons and hawks, Newpert joked in answer to one Rotarian’s question, is that falcons are jet fighters while hawks are fairly lazy among other things.

The Peregrine falcon, Newpert added, is the world’s fastest animal capable of diving speeds up to 235 mph. Once in a dive the falcon doesn’t grab its prey so much as knock it silly, he said.

In answer to Rotarian Bob Kelly’s question Newpert said it depends when asked if the outward expansion of North Texas cities affects the birds.

Many, he said, adapt well to urban living while others don’t. Several, such as screech owls, provide helpful pest control by consuming mice, cockroaches and other pests. The encroachment of cities into areas previously wild, however, also results in more injured and killed birds.

Blackland Prairie Raptor Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is open to the public the first Saturday of each month, offering different themes each time. Officials with the center also conduct more than 200 programs a year.

“In addition to fundraising and awareness outreach, I can also be found scrubbing bird poop with the best of them most days,” Newpert joked.

To make a donation or learn more about the center, call 469-964-9696 or visit www.bpraptorcenter.org.